‘Nouns of assemblage’ as the earnest Mr Ben Schott has it, are words that indicate an ‘assembly’ of objects, animalspersons etc. They are also called ‘collective nouns’. Here are some examples from Schott, and a few of my own will follow:
A gang of elk
A suit of sails
A wilderness of monkeys
A clutch of eggs
A coven of witches
A staff of servants
A sheaf of arrows
A chattering of choughs
A pontification of priests
Etc.
A surplus (surplice) of priests (my thanks to the late John Fergusun-Davie)
A fragility of eggs
A windfall of sails
A cauldron of witches
A wart of warlocks
A tusker of wild boar
A yawn of bores
A graveyard of young drivers
A rage of old drivers
Etc.
Old Ben Schott also has a curiously brief collection of curious surname pronunciations. There really is no country like England for making people pronounce names exactly as they are NOT written. Here again are some Schotts, followed by some Swifts:
Althorp pronounced Althrup, Altrup or Atrup
Auchinlech pronounced Af-lek (wonder if the US actor Ben Affleck knows his surname is really Auchinlech?)
Beauchamp pronounced Beacham
Beaulieu pronounced Bewley
Belvoir pronounced Beaver
Blount pronounced Blunt
Bohun pronounced Boon
Caius (as in Caius College, Cambridge) pronounced Keys
Cholmondley pronounced Chumley
Featherstonehaugh pronounced Fanshaw
Fiennes (as in the actor brothers Ralph and Joseph) pronounced Fines
Mainwaring (remember Dad’s Army?) pronounced Mannering
Leicester pronounced Lester
Alcester pronounced Olster
Cirencester pronounced Sister
Gloucester pronounced Gloster
Seymour pronounced Seamer
Hertford pronounced Harf’d
Bucchleuch pronounced Buckloo
Leveson–Gower pronounced Lewson-Gore
Cadogan pronounced Caduggan
Malmesbury pronounced Maamsberry
Wriothesley pronounced Risley
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